Tommy Lawton was one of the football legends of the 40's and 50's
born 6th October 1919 died 6 November 1996 was an football player & manager. A strong centre-forward all-round attacking skills, he was able to head with the ball with tremendous accuracy. Despite losing many of his best years to World War II, he scored 260 goals in 433 league, cup competitions in 14 full seasons in the Football League.
Born in Farnworth and raised in Bolton, he played amateur football at Rossendale United, before he turned professional at Burnley on his 17th birthday. He also played cricket for Burnley Cricket Club, before his £6,500 move to Everton in January 1937. He went on to finish as the First Division's top-scorer in 1937–38 and 1938–39, helping Everton to finish as champions of the Football League. League football was then suspended for seven full seasons due to the outbreak of war in Europe, during which time he scored 24 goals in 23 appearances for England while being a guest for Everton and a number of other clubs. In November 1945, he moved to Chelsea for £14,000, and scored a club record 26 goals in 34 league games in the 1946–47 season.
In November 1947, he made a surprise move to Third Division South club Notts County for a British record transfer fee of £20,000. He helped the club to win promotion as champions in 1949–50, before he moved on to Brentford in March 1952 for a club record £16,000. In January 1953, Brentford appointed him player-manager, though he would only remain in in this position for 9 months. He joined Arsenal as a player in November 1953 for £10,000, where he saw out the remainder of his playing career. He had a promising start to his managerial career by leading Kettering Town to the Southern League title in 1956–57, but then only had two more seasons as manager, getting relegated with Notts County in 1957–58 and then relegated with Kettering Town in 1963–64. He scored 22 goals in his 23 England appearances over a ten-year international career from 1938 to 1948, including four against Portugal in May 1947. He helped England to win two British Home Championship titles outright (1946–47 and 1947–48), and to share the Championship in 1938–39. He fell out of international contention at the age of 28 due to his dislike for manager Walter Winterbottom, his decision to drop out of the First Division, and the emergence of Jackie Milburn and Nat Lofthouse. As well as his England caps, he also represented The Football League XI and played in a special Great Britain game against Europe in 1947. He married twice, and had two children and one step-child. His ashes are held in the National Football Museum, and he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
It is a page from a book stuck on to cardboard with his achievements written on cardboard size 12cmx18.5cm the cross of the T is not visible the style is of signature is late 1940’s early 50’s he changed his signature in later life |
